South Sudan’s Health Minister Riek Gai Kok has not resigned from his position, a spokesman for the presidency said on Monday.

The comments from President Kiir's spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, came after rumors that the minister submitted his resignation in protest at the apparent extrajudicial execution of his nephew, Dong Samuel Luak, a prominent South Sudanese lawyer.

Ateny told Radio Tamazuj that the country’s health minister has not submitted his resignation. “It is not true that Dr. Riek Gai has submitted resignation,” Ateny said.

President Salva Kiir, according to his spokesman, has not received any letter of resignation from health minister Riek Gai.

A senior government official at the National Ministry of Health also said Minister Riek Gai is carrying out his duties normally in the capital Juba.

Gai, a loyalist of President Kiir, was appointed as health minister in 2013. He has held a number of key administrative and political positions in Sudan, including in the National Congress Party.